An air display above the Tel Aviv beach on the occasion of the 61st Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut). Photo: wiki commons.

This year’s State of Israel Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony will be conducted with a special emphasis on the achievements and struggles of women in Israeli society, Israeli daily Walla reported on Sunday.

The Ministerial Committee for Ceremonies and Symbols has accepted a proposal on the matter from Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat, who happens to chair the Committee.

In Livnat’s initiative, the torches in the 2014 ceremony will be lit by women only from all walks of Israeli life.

Minister Livnat reacted to the news this morning by saying that, “…many women have made vital contributions in all areas to the development of the state and its society,” Walla reported.

Livnat also addressed ongoing societal ills faced by Israel’s female population, saying that despite, “…the triumphs of many Israeli women, many others continue to have to fight for the basic right to live in dignity,” reported Walla.

Livnat went on to cite several aspects of the struggle for complete gender equality in Israel including civil service and private sector wage gaps, the persistence of a glass ceiling that’s preventing women from reaching the highest echelons in academia, and the crucial battle against violence aimed at women.

In her submitted proposal, Livnat stated that the 2014 ceremony is a perfect opportunity to show Israel’s women the respect they have long fought for, by acknowledging them as part of the official proceedings that separate the country’s Memorial Day from Independence Day.

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IF YOU READ THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL OR, BETTER YET, INTERVIEW SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL LIVING AND REMEMBER ISRAEL’S SURVIVAL DURING THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY FORWARD, YOU WILL COME UPON ACTS OF HEROISM AND OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF WOMEN.

In the 60’s My girlfriend came here from Israel. She is the one that brought Israel to the forefront of my consciousness. I learned then about the contributions of Israeli women to their country. Women have been fighting and defending Israel long before the “glass ceiling” became an issue in America. Before the “Iron Lady” of the UK showed what a female leader can accomplish on the international scene Golda was at the helm of Israel. This now is a well deserved ceremonial display of the roles that women have played in Israeli society. Not a surprise to me.

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